The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon. Elongated coin pressing machines typically press a coin or token between two rollers to flatten and elongate the coin or token. One or both of the rollers may be engraved with images that may be stamped onto the coin or token as the coin or token is rolled and pressed between the rollers. These machines can be powered by an electric motor or may be manually operated by means of a crank or other lever system. Elongated coins and tokens are often purchased or collected as souvenirs.
By way of educational background, an aspect of the prior art generally useful to be aware of is that the number of images available from an elongated coin pressing machine may be limited by the number of images which can be engraved on the circumference of a die roller or carrier in the machine. It is believed that the die roller or carrier in currently available elongated coin pressing machines can typically be engraved with between one and four images. Additionally, one may expect that increasing the number of images available from the machine may result in a selection process that may be difficult to implement. Furthermore, current elongated coin pressing machines are usually only able to receive a fixed payment that may allow a user to select one image from those available on that particular machine. The machine may then press a coin or token with the chosen image and deliver the single elongated coin or token to the user. Therefore, each image typically must be separately and individually purchased, which may be time consuming. It is believed that the inconvenience of paying for each image separately may lessen the possibility that a user will purchase multiple images, which may result in less revenue generated by the machine.
In view of the foregoing, it is clear that these traditional techniques are not perfect and leave room for more optimal approaches.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.